Relational database management systems (RDBMS) may be designed to permit multiple users to search, access, or otherwise process databases of information, often by using SQL-based application programs and queries. Databases and information accessible by such systems sometimes derive from multiple sources or may even be in distributed, multiple-database systems, database federation systems, or other versions of data integrated constructions, including data warehousing, and, more recently, e-business applications.
Data integration is one aspect of RDBMS systems which may facilitate the processing of information contained in such databases. One of the issues associated with data integration is data mismatch, which may arise for any number of reasons. One example of data mismatch is caused by the fact that, in the real world, different terms associated with data may have the same or similar semantic meaning or interpretation.